3 ms·

This has been posted multiple times already. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24241488 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24241488 2: https://news.yc

This has been posted multiple times already. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24241488 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24241488 2: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24246212 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24246212 3: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24243496 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24243496

roenxi 6y ago
And the top comment - that blockchains resist financial censorship - is still extremely insightful. Blockchains are truthful in a way like no other ledger (all of which are ultimately mutable at an individual entities whim). Bank transfers mean 2 transactors, 2 banks and at least one government think the transaction is appropriate. Blockchain cuts most of that out. This is clearly transformative. Governments are one of the least reliable organisations I deal with. There are few entities more fickle, less reasonable, less governed and more prone to random fits of violence. Having a mechanism to transact online while cutting them out is a big deal. The implications are still unclear but the idea is amazing. I don't think Bitcoin is going to realise this potential but the technology is really quite something.
- AceJohnny2 6y ago
  > This is clearly transformative It clearly is not, as evidenced by the lack of transformation of the banking sector since Bitcoin first came out in January 2009.
  - amitport 6y ago
    The banking sector moves slowly (an understatement) (they still use COBOL, IMS, etc.). Its current low adoption of this tech does not mean much.
  - ceilingcorner 6y ago
    Things take time. To dismiss it because it hasn’t transformed a massive entrenched industry in just over a decade is pretty short-sighted.
  - dcposch 6y ago
    This recalls Paul Krugman's famous clownspeak, in 1998, comparing the impact of the internet to that of the fax machine. By 1998, the internet had failed to transform a lot of industries despite a lot of hype and grifters ( WebVan, WorldCom, etc etc etc). Regardless, it was progressing fast. People with enough technical understanding understood its tremendous underlying promise--not the promise of a quick buck, but the opportunity to make things that were previously impossible, and the inevitability of eventual transformative change across a whole range of industries. Remind you of anything?
    - nurettin 6y ago
      Reminds me of solarpunk.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - candiodari 6y ago
    Ask your local police department, or a few addicts. I think they'll report the situation completely transformed compared to 10 years ago ...
- pmachinery 6y ago
  > This is clearly transformative. [...] The implications are still unclear Around the time Bitcoin originated (or at least when the name was finally decided upon and the domain registered), the first commercial Android device was launched. Since then the latter creation has put interconnected computers literally into the hands of virtually everyone on the planet, allowing for numerous other technologies, industries and markets to be built upon it. That's clearly transformative. What has "blockchain" transformed? Still unclear? After 12 years, that means clear.
  - roenxi 6y ago
    That isn't a very solid argument - they had ISPs and TCP/IP and emails in 1970s [0] and yet HTTP/Netscape/Amazon/Google/the rest of what the modern internet is used for didn't exist before the 90s. Transformation doesn't have to happen quickly. [0] https://www.wired.com/2012/12/queen-and-the-internet/ https://www.wired.com/2012/12/queen-and-the-internet/
    - pmachinery 6y ago
      > That isn't a very solid argument - they had ISPs and TCP/IP and emails in 1970s [0] and yet HTTP/Netscape/Amazon/Google/the rest of what the modern internet is used for didn't exist before the 90s. No, not a solid argument would be counting the adoption of "blockchain" from when it was created, but everything else from the 1970s for some reason.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

roenxi 6y ago

And the top comment - that blockchains resist financial censorship - is still extremely insightful. Blockchains are truthful in a way like no other ledger (all of which are ultimately mutable at an individual entities whim). Bank transfers mean 2 transactors, 2 banks and at least one government think the transaction is appropriate. Blockchain cuts most of that out. This is clearly transformative. Governments are one of the least reliable organisations I deal with. There are few entities more fickle, less reasonable, less governed and more prone to random fits of violence. Having a mechanism to transact online while cutting them out is a big deal. The implications are still unclear but the idea is amazing. I don't think Bitcoin is going to realise this potential but the technology is really quite something.

AceJohnny2 6y ago
> This is clearly transformative It clearly is not, as evidenced by the lack of transformation of the banking sector since Bitcoin first came out in January 2009.
- amitport 6y ago
  The banking sector moves slowly (an understatement) (they still use COBOL, IMS, etc.). Its current low adoption of this tech does not mean much.
- ceilingcorner 6y ago
  Things take time. To dismiss it because it hasn’t transformed a massive entrenched industry in just over a decade is pretty short-sighted.
- dcposch 6y ago
  This recalls Paul Krugman's famous clownspeak, in 1998, comparing the impact of the internet to that of the fax machine. By 1998, the internet had failed to transform a lot of industries despite a lot of hype and grifters ( WebVan, WorldCom, etc etc etc). Regardless, it was progressing fast. People with enough technical understanding understood its tremendous underlying promise--not the promise of a quick buck, but the opportunity to make things that were previously impossible, and the inevitability of eventual transformative change across a whole range of industries. Remind you of anything?
  - nurettin 6y ago
    Reminds me of solarpunk.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- candiodari 6y ago
  Ask your local police department, or a few addicts. I think they'll report the situation completely transformed compared to 10 years ago ...
pmachinery 6y ago
> This is clearly transformative. [...] The implications are still unclear Around the time Bitcoin originated (or at least when the name was finally decided upon and the domain registered), the first commercial Android device was launched. Since then the latter creation has put interconnected computers literally into the hands of virtually everyone on the planet, allowing for numerous other technologies, industries and markets to be built upon it. That's clearly transformative. What has "blockchain" transformed? Still unclear? After 12 years, that means clear.
- roenxi 6y ago
  That isn't a very solid argument - they had ISPs and TCP/IP and emails in 1970s [0] and yet HTTP/Netscape/Amazon/Google/the rest of what the modern internet is used for didn't exist before the 90s. Transformation doesn't have to happen quickly. [0] https://www.wired.com/2012/12/queen-and-the-internet/ https://www.wired.com/2012/12/queen-and-the-internet/
  - pmachinery 6y ago
    > That isn't a very solid argument - they had ISPs and TCP/IP and emails in 1970s [0] and yet HTTP/Netscape/Amazon/Google/the rest of what the modern internet is used for didn't exist before the 90s. No, not a solid argument would be counting the adoption of "blockchain" from when it was created, but everything else from the 1970s for some reason.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]